Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures and Fantasies.
‘Music is never about things. Music just is’, Leonard Bernstein once said. Perhaps that was why Schumann decided to remove the evocative titles (‘Ruin, Triumphal Arch, Constellation’) from his Fantasie: the music has an independent existence without them. Is the same true of Pictures at an Exhibition? Mussorgsky created here something subtler and more ambivalent than Hartmann’s paintings might suggest. Alongside the dazzling virtuosity they call for, Paul Lewis’s unexpected coupling reveals the purely musical qualities of these two 19th-century masterpieces.
Disc 1
Modest Mussorgsky [1839-1881]
Pictures at an Exhibition
Tableaux d'une exposition / Bilder einer Ausstellung
Tableaux d'une exposition / Bilder einer Ausstellung
Promenade. Allegro giusto, nel modo russico; senza allegrezza, ma poco sostenuto
I. Gnomus / The gnome / Der Gnom. Sempre vivo
I. Gnomus / The gnome / Der Gnom. Sempre vivo
Promenade. Moderato commodo assai e con delicatezza
II. Il vecchio castello / The old castle / Das alte Schloß. Andantino molto cantabile e con dolore
II. Il vecchio castello / The old castle / Das alte Schloß. Andantino molto cantabile e con dolore
Promenade. Moderato non tanto, pesamente
III. Tuileries (Dispute d'enfants après jeux) / The Tuileries Gardens (Children quarrelling after playing) / Die Tuilerien. Allegretto non troppo, capriccioso
III. Tuileries (Dispute d'enfants après jeux) / The Tuileries Gardens (Children quarrelling after playing) / Die Tuilerien. Allegretto non troppo, capriccioso
IV. Bydlo. Sempre moderato, pesante
Promenade. Tranquillo
V. Ballet de poussins dans leurs coques / Ballet of the unhatched chicks/ Ballett der unausgeschlüpften Küken. Scherzino - Trio: Vivo leggiero
V. Ballet de poussins dans leurs coques / Ballet of the unhatched chicks/ Ballett der unausgeschlüpften Küken. Scherzino - Trio: Vivo leggiero
VI. "Samuel" Goldenberg und "Schmüyle". Andante. Grave - energico
Promenade. Allegro giusto, nel modo russico; senza allegrezza, ma poco sostenuto
VII. Limoges. Le marché / The marketplace in Limoges/ Der Marktplatz von Limoges. Allegretto vivo, sempre scherzando
VII. Limoges. Le marché / The marketplace in Limoges/ Der Marktplatz von Limoges. Allegretto vivo, sempre scherzando
VIII. Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) / The catacombs / Die Katakomben. Largo
Cum mortuis in lingua morta (Promenade) / With the dead in a dead language / Mit den Toten in einer toten Sprache. Andante non troppo, con lamento
IX. La cabane sur des pattes de poule (Baba Yaga)/ The hut on fowl's legs (Baba Yaga) / Die Hütte auf Hühnerfüßen (Baba-Jaga). Allegro con brio, feroce
IX. La cabane sur des pattes de poule (Baba Yaga)/ The hut on fowl's legs (Baba Yaga) / Die Hütte auf Hühnerfüßen (Baba-Jaga). Allegro con brio, feroce
X. La grande porte de Kiev / The great gate of Kiev / Das Heldentor (in der alten Hauptstadt Kiew). Allegro alla breve. Maestoso. Con grandezza
Robert Schumann [1810-1856]
Fantasie op.17
in C major / Ut majeur / C-Dur
in C major / Ut majeur / C-Dur
I. Durchaus phantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen
II. Mäßig. Durchaus energisch
III. Langsam getragen. Durchweg leise zu halten